Author's Note: Let me know what you think. This is the point where it's going to get dark again. Let me know what you think, please! I'll try not to get too graphic, but there will be some torture in the future.
Chapter 23: Hostage
Micky opened the front door after the doctor's appointment. It had gone fairly well; the doctor said Heather and her baby appeared to be doing fine, but that she would have to stay on bed rest and stay as stress free as possible for the next 4 months until the baby arrived. Mike had hardly said anything the ride over and the ride home. Micky and Rose hadn't been allowed in the room during the examination, but they waited in the lobby for Mike and Heather to finish and had been told what the doctor said. But that was about all he said the entire time. Micky could tell this was really weighing on him and Micky really wished there was something he could do to make it easier. But there wasn't.
"Sarah!" Micky exclaimed when the first thing he saw when he opened the door was Sarah lying on the floor in a crumpled heap in the middle of the living room. Without a thought or a second look around, he ran over to her and knelt on the floor next to her.
"Micky," Mike said in a scared and warning tone. Micky didn't look at him. All he saw in front of him was the woman he loved lying limp in his arms. He gently brushed the hair out of her face and started to quickly examine her. She had a very large bruise on her face and throat and her clothes were rumpled and torn in places.
"What the hell happened?" Micky asked no one in particular.
"Micky!" Mike said more urgently. This time Micky looked up and in each corner of the room stood a man and a woman each holding a gun to Davy and Peter's heads. Both were gagged and looked terrified. Micky didn't recognize any of them, but when his mother walked in through the back patio with a sick smile on her face he wanted to throw up.
"Micky!" she exclaimed as though she were pleasantly surprised to see him. "It's been far too long. My you've grown into a handsome young man."
"What the fuck did you do?" Micky demanded. He never let go of Sarah, knowing if he did, he'd only end up attacking his mother which would surely get Peter and Davy killed. He did feel Rose and Mike close ranks on either side of him as if they knew how much of a struggle it was not to attack her.
"She was naughty," Claire smiled. Micky's stomach churned knowing what that meant. "As for your friends, so far they've been very well behaved. No complaints from me, but we'll see how that goes."
"Let them go, Claire," Mike demanded.
"Why would I do that?" Claire asked innocently.
"They have nothing to do with any of this," Mike said. "Whatever it is you want, they have nothing to do with it. So just let them go."
"Sorry, Michael," Claire said. "I can't do that. I still need them. Because without them, you aren't going to get into the van I have parked outside. Without them, you aren't going to behave."
"We'll do whatever you want, Claire," Rose said. "Mike's right. They have nothing to do with this. Please, just let them go."
"No," Claire said. "Now, please. You've already taken longer than expected, so we have to hurry if we're going to make it in time. Get in the van. All of you."
"Why would we go anywhere with you?" Micky asked.
"I already told you, Micky," Claire chastised. "If you don't behave like good little boys and do what you're told, then you'll get to watch one of your friends get their brains blown into little chunks all over this nice little house. And if you still won't behave, then we'll do it to the other. Then we'll shoot Sarah. Or we could do that first. Maybe put her out of her misery?"
"No!" Mike said as Claire moved to pull something out of her pocket. Micky just sat there frozen. If he went with her, he knew what to expect; they'd all be in danger and Sarah had already been hurt. But if he fought back, Davy and Peter would be killed. Mike made up Micky's mind for him. "We'll go. Just don't hurt them, ok?"
"Good," Claire said smiling. "Michael, why don't you be a good boy and help Micky carry Sarah? Peter and Shirley first, then once you're all in the van all nice and cozy, Cole will bring Davy. So no funny tricks. No heroics. Just be good little boys. Are we clear?"
"Yes," Mike said angrily and knelt down next to Micky to speak softly to him. "Micky, come on. We have to do this. If we don't, they'll die."
"They'll die anyway," Micky said softly pulling Sarah to him. She was alive, but not very responsive at all. Micky figured she'd been drugged somehow. Before she'd been hurt.
"No they won't," Rose said kneeling next to them. "We'll make sure of that. You know how this works. They'll leave them alone if we do what they say."
"For how long?" Micky asked.
"Micky, we can't think that way," Mike said wrapping an arm around Sarah to help cradle her. "We just have to do what they say now, then we'll think of a way out of this. We don't do what they say, we all die now. Including Sarah." Micky just nodded and let Mike help him lift Sarah up. He felt tears burning his eyes, but didn't want to give his mother the satisfaction of knowing she was hurting him, so he quickly brushed them away and focused his rage on keeping himself strong all the way out to the van. He heard Peter whimper in pain a few times behind the gag as they followed the woman holding the gun to his head, but couldn't do much about it. Mike climbed into the van and turned to allow Micky to hand Sarah to him.
Micky didn't want to let her go, but knew he had to. At least for a second. Mike held her close and was as gentle as he could be with her until Micky climbed into the back of the van and took her back. He wanted her to stay as close to him as possible. She was safe as long as she was in his arms. During the shuffle, her skirt moved a little more revealing a large bruise on the inside of her thigh and Micky choked back a sob knowing how she'd gotten it.
"Good boys," Claire said once Rose and Heather had climbed into the back of the van, too. Heather tried to sit next to Mike, but Rose quickly sat on his other side knowing Mike would not have wanted to be that close to her. Peter was sitting down across from Micky and when they shoved Davy forcefully into the back, he moved to pull Davy next to him.
"Hang tight," the man named Cole smiled and shut the doors.
"Micky, I'm so sorry!" Davy exclaimed as soon as the door latched, locking them all in. "We tried to get them to stop, but…"
"Stop," Micky said a little more forcefully than he wanted to. "This isn't your fault. Are you guys hurt?"
"No," Peter said. "She tricked me. Shirley said she wanted me to help her with her car...I didn't know it was a trap. I was looking at her engine and the next thing I know there's a gun at my head. I did what they said cause I didn't want them to hurt Davy or Sarah, but...they did anyway."
"Peter, Micky's right," Mike said paternally. "This isn't your fault. Or Davy's or Sarah's or anyone's."
"It's mine," Micky said softly finally letting the tear escape.
"Micky, it's not your fault," Mike said wrapping his arm around Micky. "You couldn't have known this was going to happen."
"I swore to protect her," Micky said. "I promised her this wouldn't happen again."
"Is she ok?" Peter asked softly.
"She's just drugged," Rose answered. "Other than that...she's strong. She'll be fine. You know that, Micky. She's a fighter. She wasn't always, but you taught her to be."
"That's why they did that to her," Davy said softly. "She tried to escape. She tried to fight back. Claire said she needed to be taught a lesson. I tried to beg her not to…"
"She wouldn't have listened to you, Davy," Mike said. "There's nothing either of you could have done to stop this."
"Did you see it?" Micky asked fear growing in his heart. It was bad enough that they were now exposed to this world and knew that people could be hurt in such a way, but it would be so much worse if they'd actually been forced to witness it knowing they could do nothing to stop it.
"No," Peter answered. "They took her in the bedroom."
"She came out like that," Davy added. "I'm so sorry, Micky."
"I never should have left her," Micky said running his fingers softly over the bruise over her throat and wishing that somehow just doing that would make it disappear. "It's my fault. I promised her…"
"This isn't anyone's fault, Micky," Mike said.
"Isn't it?" Davy asked. Micky looked up to see him cast a glance at Heather. "Awfully interesting timing all of this…"
"Davy, don't start," Mike said. "I knew there was a risk of them finding us when we took her in. I just didn't believe her story."
"And you do now?" Davy asked. "Didn't she say she was forced to hurt you by your dad? That wasn't your dad. That was Micky's mom."
"I know that," Mike said. "I don't know what's going on and neither do you."
"She does," Davy said looking at her again.
"I don't know any more about this than you do," Heather said firmly. "My guess is Micky's mom is helping because she and his dad have been having an affair since before even I was born."
"What?" Mike asked.
"You didn't know?" Heather laughed. "She didn't exactly keep it a secret that she slept with anyone and everyone."
"Not from us, no," Micky corrected. "But from the rest of the world, she did. She had her image to keep."
"Well, whatever the case, I had nothing to do with this," Heather said. "I did warn you that I might be leading them right to you, but you insisted I move in."
"And what, they just waited patiently outside for you, Rose, Mike and Micky to all be gone?" Davy asked.
"Leaving the most vulnerable behind to spring a trap?" Heather continued. "Knowing my mom, yeah. You'd be surprised how patient she is when she really wants something."
"Enough!" Mike exclaimed. "We shouldn't be pointing fingers at anyone. She's here with us and we need to find a way out of this. That's all that matters."
"Maybe we can bargain with them," Peter said.
"I doubt it," Mike answered. "They aren't really the type to bargain. We'll figure something out. Everything's gonna be ok."
"How is everything gonna be ok, Mike?" Micky asked before his brain told him to stop. "This is my mother we're dealing with, not your father. Your father never touched you. Your father left you alone. My parents are different, Mike. They don't give a shit about anyone but themselves. They thrill in torture. They get off on it. Even if we're there 5 minutes it'll still be hell. It's already hell. They fucking raped Sarah after I told her she'd be safe! So tell me, Michael, how is everything gonna be ok?"
"Micky, calm down," Rose said. "I know you're upset, but don't take it out on Mike. Just breathe. This isn't your fault. We keep telling you that. You couldn't have known this was going to happen."
"I should have stayed with her," Micky said.
"You were protecting Mike," Rose countered. "Besides that, she wouldn't want you to give up everything to stay by her side every minute of every day. But you can help her now. You can pull yourself back together and keep a level head. You escaped them twice. You can do it again."
"Technically I only escaped once," Micky said. "Mike was the brains behind the second one."
"Exactly," Mike said. "We need to work together if we're going to expect to get out of here. Trust me, I hate what happened to Sarah just as much as you do and I wish I could do something to make it better. And no, my dad never touched me, but I saw a lot of shit growing up. I'm not gonna stand by and let anyone else go through that. We're gonna be ok because we're gonna have faith and we're gonna work together to get the hell out." Before anyone could say anything else, the van came to a stop and the doors opened. Again they were faced with guns pointed directly at them.
"Get out," Claire demanded. Micky held tightly onto Sarah as they all climbed out, with a slight hand off to Mike again for a second, and looked where they were. It looked like an ambulance loading bay for a hospital. He looked around further and saw they were at the psychiatric hospital Sarah had just escaped from. And now she was being brought back. Micky desperately wanted to run, but within a second, the two named Shirley and Cole grabbed Davy and Peter again and pressed the guns so tightly to their temples they would no doubt leave a mark.
"Please leave them alone," Mike asked again.
"They're insurance," Claire responded. "Not going to happen. Inside." Micky took a second to tell his feet to walk forward into the hospital. His heart kept screaming at him to run away; not to bring Sarah back here. But his choice was to either run and try and escape with Sarah when there was no certainty of success, or save Peter and Davy. He knew in his heart what Sarah would tell him to do, so he followed that and walked inside knowing the kinds of tortures that awaited them.